Measuring marketing’s worth
May 18, 2012 by (author unknown)
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You can’t spend wisely unless you understand marketing’s full impact. Here are five questions executives should ask to help maximize the bang for their bucks.
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Topics:
Marketing
Understanding the New ROI of Marketing
May 14, 2012 by Susan Gunelius
If you’re tracking monetary return on investment (ROI) as the sole criterion to determine if your marketing programs are working, then you need to catch up to the 21st century because you’re missing a big part of the picture.
Article: In Western Europe, Internet Behavior Differences Slight but Significant
May 3, 2012 by (author unknown)
Social networking most popular among young people in Western Europe
Article: Mobile Drives Global Search Advertising Surge in Q1
April 23, 2012 by (author unknown)
US marketers overwhelmingly focus mobile ad spending on tablets
Study: Mobile+TV Ads Work Way Better Than TV Ads Alone
April 16, 2012 by Robert Hof
Who says multitasking doesn’t work? We notice and respond to ads much more on iPads and iPhones while we’re watching television than we do to TV ads alone, according to a study released this morning by Nielsen for the mobile video ad firm AdColony.
10 Communication Secrets of Great Leaders
April 4, 2012 by Mike Myatt
It is simply impossible to become a great leader without being a great communicator. I hope you noticed the previous sentence didn’t refer to being a great talker – big difference. The key to becoming a skillful communicator is rarely found in what has been taught in the world of
Article: Consumers Engage Differently on Email and Social Media
April 4, 2012 by (author unknown)
Discounts and offers drive participation, but social media followers also want to show support
Article: Execs Foresee Continued Shift to Digital Marketing
March 27, 2012 by (author unknown)
Social media marketing spend predicted to nearly triple over five years
Why Brand Managers Need To Take An Interest In Pinterest
March 20, 2012 by Steve Olenski
The person who makes the majority of household purchasing decisions has developed an affinity for the latest and greatest social media platform, Pinterest. And brand managers and brand marketers would be very wise to take note.
Article: Europe Tops US in Mobile Ad Response Rates
March 13, 2012 by (author unknown)
US consumers less responsive to mobile ads than mobile users in Italy, Germany and the UK
Twitter Opens Up Self-Serve Ad Platform to 10,000 Small Businesses
February 17, 2012 by (author unknown)
Self-serve is expected to be a cornerstone of Twitter’s revenue growth, though its contribution will be small early on while it looks to scale the number of small businesses using its platform.
Sh*t We Say: Lessons from a Long-Tailed Meme – Part 2
January 31, 2012 by Blake Bowyer
(Part 2? Yeah, check out Part 1.)
In case you missed it, Ron Paul supporters, ASU students, and VFX artists were among those that joined the fray since my last post. The variations continue to proliferate further down the tail, satirizing – and entertaining – more niche audiences. What does this add up to? Segmentation.
While I easily enjoy Sh*t ASU Students Say even though I’m not a Sun Devil – and haven’t even been to the campus – the video resonates better with those who were. Beyond that, the video’s arc is more relatable to students who enrolled in the past 5-10 years and drink socially – perhaps even deeper for students who were in the Greek system and enjoy campus takeout.
The point is, there’s a clear difference in the type of viewer who’s going to watch the video halfway through for a chuckle and a viewer who’s going to share across social networks. Those pearls of info are demographic, psychographic, and behavioristic qualities – in some ways digital has obscured their importance.
As segmented as some brands’ social media programs get these days.
On-platform segmentation
On Facebook you can get granular with ads – age, gender, interest, etc. – but what’s the deepest a brand can go with a non-paid Wall post? Zip code – better than nothing, but hardly ideal. What’s the most specific you can get with a non-promoted tweet? Well, there isn’t any targeting at all. A brand can use hashtags, but hardly a guarantee it reaches the right followers and non-followers. The list goes on.
When considering the lack of earned and owned targeting, should we have been so shocked by the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute’s recent study showing 1.3% of users who Like a Page also engage with it? There are a host of reasons – and it’s not panic time – but a lack of targeted relevance is likely a large factor.
Is there hope? You probably saw the Pinterest infographic shared far and wide yesterday. The standout points are a 429% traffic increase since September and a higher referral rate than Google+. The larger question is how we account for the platform’s explosion – my takeaway is self-segmentation. Users can very specifically choose what content they consume from brands. For example, a user may be more interested in HGTV’s Design Happens Blog board than its Party Planner board – and the user can choose.
Of course, we can’t always expect audiences to do all the work – that’s kind of our job – but content segmentation is likely a contributor to the platform’s growing popularity. This is also why diligent brands should use Google+ to group users and serve-up relevance by the Circle-full.
What are the lessons?
Segment your influencers – While mega-buckets like green and lifestyle are easy defaults, your influencers should be as refined as your audiences – and pitched with the same specificity. This involves additional research, but is worthwhile in the long-run. This principle is emphasized in our and freshly-updated Ogilvy Social Media Engagement Code. We will always work hard to have good reason to connect our brand or program with a particular influencer or fan.
Diligent application of paid - Sometimes paid feels like a dirty word in our idyllic world of social media and word-of-mouth comms, but it’s a huge value-add when used properly. If a brand has a strong, relevant message it feels will resonate with ASU students or VFX artists, paid could be invaluable in getting the value exchange to a receptive audience.
Be targeted in your research - Broad statistics about social media won’t get you far. You may see large trends, but it doesn’t say much about your audiences. Believe it or not, MySpace is still relevant to stand-up comedians and forums are strong in industries like health care. Research + expertise for insight. As quickly as the digital world changes, intelligence must also be refreshed regularly – and with rigor.
As we continue to hear what sh*t all kinds of people say, more lessons about marketing in a digital world will come to the surface. Including when a campaign has run its course. Exhibit A @ 1:29. (It’s still hilarious.)
Are there other lessons you took away from this meme? What niche do you think is underserved in social media?
Facebook report from: http://www.marketingscience.info/.*Image credit: Despair.com. +Inspiration credit: @AlexisPond.
Sh*t We Say: Lessons from a Long-Tailed Meme – Part 1
January 26, 2012 by Blake Bowyer
“It’s an English basement.”
That might not mean much to you, but it probably made you chuckle if you fall into one of the two groups:
- Current or former D.C. residents
- Viewers of Sh*t People In D.C. Say
Of course, this video is one of many variations of the Sh*t Girls Say series – which has a cumulative YouTube viewership of 20+ million and growing. You know the premise: Stereotypical expressions from people of a certain ilk, organized by gender, hobby, lifestyle, or geography. There are takes on skiers, hipsters, suburban moms, and even sh*t nobody says (a personal favorite) and the meme’s ’success’ reminds me of basic marketing program goals: generating word-of-mouth, stimulating co-creation, and targeting segmented audiences.
$1,400 for a converted sunroom? Not bad – better than an English basement.
First: Why do we care about sh*t other people say?
As a meme – both intentionally and by accident – these videos satisfy several of the 7 Drivers of Word of Mouth synthesized from Emmanuel Rosen’s work: there’s a good story, people can show their involvement, there is an implicit invitation to participate through their involvement, ’supporters’ can be creative, and, most crucially, there’s a clear value offering – comedy.
The power of these elements is not only clear in the 20+ million video views of the original – and millions more on the variations – but the number of amateur aueters who created their own. An absurdly unscientific calculation using YouTube shows 200+ videos using a basic search – let’s safely presume 50 are duplicates and 50 are spam. Even at 100 and with absolutely no prize, that’s higher participation than most branded video submission challenges get – save Survivor applications and Doritos’ Crash the Super Bowl.
What’s the lesson?
This concept – again, presumably by accident – encourages marketers to revisit basics about constructing effective programs to generate word-of-mouth and cultivate co-creation. Here are a few quick ones:
- Establish a proper barrier to entry for a desired output – if you’re inviting the masses, you better make it low.
- Make it real - do a participants’ efforts really matter or is this just a marketing program? The former will help cultivate stronger long-term benefits.
- Allow for creativity – while some of the videos are mocking groups, I would confidently presume that most of them were created by skiers and D.C.-ites themselves.
- Let your co-creators own it – while everyone involved knows this is a marketing effort, no one’s interested in making a 6-minute branded video – nor does anyone want to watch one – so ensure the brand is seen through the lens of its fans, advocates, and consumers, not the opposite.
In Part 2, I’ll explore the concepts of segmentation as it applies to long-tailed messages and why – even if you don’t live in The District – Sh*t People in D.C. Say is still funny.
Why do you think this meme has become so popular? What are the other takeaways do you see that apply to marketers?
Five Key Things to Know About CES
January 12, 2012 by (author unknown)
The Convention Center is for pure technological sensory overload. Unless you’re marketing consumer electronics products or are part of that value chain, it’s not going to affect your job.
Why CMOs Need To Get Real About The Policy Implications Of Big Data
January 10, 2012 by Steve Olenski
Big data. Just those words alone are enough to send a collective shudder up AND down the spine of CMOs the world over.
Affluency: Three Trends to Watch for 2012
January 4, 2012 by (author unknown)
Affluency: In this month’s column, Ipsos Mendelsohn looks at the data it has collected about affluent’s shopping patterns throughout the year, and distills it into three key takeaways to help marketers prepare for 2012 and beyond.
Brands Embrace Google+ in Hopes of Coming Search Boost
December 15, 2011 by (author unknown)
Their worry is that early adopters will reap any search benefits, while others will be buried by those who have collected more +1s.
Study: Only 5% Americans Online Use Location Apps Like Foursquare
December 6, 2011 by (author unknown)
Forrester survey also suggests higher income, male early-adopters may be tiring of the check-in category.
Article: Uneven Campaign Metrics Make Multichannel Advertising More Challenging
December 5, 2011 by (author unknown)
Marketers report difficulty making sense of online metrics
Social Proof Is The New Marketing
November 29, 2011 by (author unknown)
One challenge, which isn’t new, is the battle for consumer attention. If you’re looking to grow your user base, is there a best way to cost-effectively attract valuable users? I’m increasingly convinced the best way is by harnessing a concept called social proof, a relatively untapped gold mine in the age of the social web. What is social proof? Put simply, it’s the positive influence created when someone finds out that others are doing something. It’s also known as informational social influence.